Surgeons
Operate on patients to treat injury, disease, and deformity.
At a glance
Entry into Surgeons usually takes a medical degree plus a long residency. The pay and outlook above are not this occupation's own BLS figures, since BLS publishes none for it alone, so they are not compared here. The AI read on Surgeons: 24th percentile exposure, very low displacement risk, 30/100 working with AI, tilting toward AI as a helper. On the modeled AI scale, this is 63 points lower than Radiologists.
Similar pay in Healthcare Practitioners
Key skills
- Surgical skill
- Stamina
- Precision
- Decision making
- Communication
Pay and jobs by state: Surgeons, All Other
Figures for Surgeons, All Other. BLS reports no numbers for Surgeons on its own; these are BLS's figures for that occupation. BLS OEWS May 2025, 50 states and DC. Sorted by jobs; per 1,000 is jobs per thousand workers in the state; vs national compares that rate with the country's. A tilde marks a figure estimated from the parent occupation group where BLS publishes none.
| State | Jobs | Per 1,000 | vs national | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 4,540 | 0.5 | 2.9× | $410k |
| California | 2,535 (estimated) | 0.1 (estimated) | 0.9× (estimated) | $132k |
| Florida | 2,260 | 0.2 | 1.4× | $430k |
| Texas | 1,710 | 0.1 | 0.8× | $223k |
| Pennsylvania | 1,120 (estimated) | 0.2 (estimated) | 1.1× (estimated) | $390k (estimated) |
| Ohio | 980 | 0.2 | 1.1× | $554k |
| Minnesota | 910 | 0.3 | 1.9× | $568k |
| Massachusetts | 770 | 0.2 | 1.3× | $387k |
| New Jersey | 680 | 0.2 | 1.0× | $438k |
| Illinois | 620 | 0.1 | 0.6× | $438k |
All 50 states and DC
| State | Jobs | Per 1,000 | vs national | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | 550 | 0.2 | 1.2× | $416k |
| Arizona | 538 (estimated) | 0.2 (estimated) | 1.0× (estimated) | $416k |
| Maryland | 520 | 0.2 | 1.2× | $329k |
| Oregon | 500 | 0.3 | 1.6× | $565k (estimated) |
| Tennessee | 490 | 0.1 | 0.9× | $374k |
| North Carolina | 480 | 0.1 | 0.6× | $398k |
| Colorado | 470 | 0.2 | 1.0× | $469k (estimated) |
| Hawaii | 450 | 0.7 | 4.4× | $508k (estimated) |
| Connecticut | 440 | 0.3 | 1.6× | $162k |
| Kentucky | 440 | 0.2 | 1.4× | $162k |
| Michigan | 440 | 0.1 | 0.6× | $412k |
| Indiana | 420 | 0.1 | 0.8× | $459k |
| South Carolina | 374 (estimated) | 0.2 (estimated) | 1.0× (estimated) | $382k (estimated) |
| Washington | 370 | 0.1 | 0.6× | $479k |
| Alabama | 340 | 0.2 | 1.0× | $322k (estimated) |
| Georgia | 300 | 0.1 | 0.4× | $502k |
| Arkansas | 280 | 0.2 | 1.3× | $255k |
| Virginia | 260 | 0.1 | 0.4× | $361k |
| West Virginia | 240 | 0.3 | 2.1× | $468k |
| Utah | 224 (estimated) | 0.1 (estimated) | 0.8× (estimated) | $394k (estimated) |
| New Hampshire | 220 | 0.3 | 2.0× | $535k |
| Nevada | 195 (estimated) | 0.1 (estimated) | 0.8× (estimated) | $327k |
| Nebraska | 180 | 0.2 | 1.1× | $341k |
| Missouri | 160 | 0.1 | 0.3× | $379k (estimated) |
| Vermont | 160 | 0.5 | 3.3× | $439k |
| New Mexico | 150 | 0.2 | 1.1× | $364k |
| North Dakota | 150 | 0.3 | 2.2× | $605k |
| Washington DC | 140 | 0.2 | 1.2× | $480k (estimated) |
| Louisiana | 140 | 0.1 | 0.5× | $305k |
| Maine | 140 | 0.2 | 1.4× | $416k (estimated) |
| Mississippi | 120 | 0.1 | 0.6× | $180k |
| South Dakota | 120 | 0.3 | 1.6× | $372k (estimated) |
| Iowa | 110 | 0.1 | 0.4× | $370k |
| Rhode Island | 86 (estimated) | 0.2 (estimated) | 1.1× (estimated) | $200k |
| Montana | 82 (estimated) | 0.2 (estimated) | 1.0× (estimated) | $393k (estimated) |
| Oklahoma | 80 | 0.0 | 0.3× | $554k |
| Delaware | 70 | 0.1 | 0.9× | $465k (estimated) |
| Alaska | 60 | 0.2 | 1.1× | $505k (estimated) |
| Idaho | 60 | 0.1 | 0.4× | $211k |
| Wyoming | 60 | 0.2 | 1.3× | $388k |
| Kansas | 30 | 0.0 | 0.1× | $374k (estimated) |
Top metro areas
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ4,290 jobs · $400k median
- Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX560 jobs · $80k median
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH520 jobs · $386k median
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA490 jobs
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX470 jobs · $495k median
- Urban Honolulu, HI410 jobs
- Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN360 jobs · $459k median
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN340 jobs · $463k median
Where this ranks
Explore Surgeons interactively →BLS does not publish this occupation on its own. Pay and outlook here are BLS's figures for Surgeons, All Other (SOC 29-1249), the closest published occupation, so the real figures for this job could sit either side of them. Skills and work activities from O*NET 30.3. AI exposure and future-proof scores are modeled estimates. How these numbers are made.